Iranian envoy abducted in Pakistan

Gunmen kill his guard - fear grows that foreigners are prey

Riaz Khan, Associated Press

Published
4:00 am PST, Friday, November 14, 2008

Pakistani police officers offer funeral prayers for their colleague who was killed by gunmen in Peshawar, Pakistan on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2008. Gunmen kidnapped an Iranian diplomat after killing his guard - the police officer - Thursday in Peshawar, a day after an American aid worker was shot dead in the city in volatile northwest Pakistan, officials said.(AP Photo) less

Pakistani police officers offer funeral prayers for their colleague who was killed by gunmen in Peshawar, Pakistan on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2008. Gunmen kidnapped an Iranian diplomat after killing his guard - the ... more

Photo: STR, AP

Photo: STR, AP

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Pakistani police officers offer funeral prayers for their colleague who was killed by gunmen in Peshawar, Pakistan on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2008. Gunmen kidnapped an Iranian diplomat after killing his guard - the police officer - Thursday in Peshawar, a day after an American aid worker was shot dead in the city in volatile northwest Pakistan, officials said.(AP Photo) less

Pakistani police officers offer funeral prayers for their colleague who was killed by gunmen in Peshawar, Pakistan on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2008. Gunmen kidnapped an Iranian diplomat after killing his guard - the ... more

Photo: STR, AP

Iranian envoy abducted in Pakistan

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Armed men kidnapped an Iranian diplomat Thursday in Pakistan's northwest, a day after the slaying of an American aid worker - heightening fears that Islamic militants are hunting down foreigners.

The Iranian and his Pakistani bodyguard were driving over a narrow bridge in Peshawar when two gunmen blocked their way with a car and opened fire, said Banaras Khan, a police investigator who cited a witness. The attackers fled with the diplomat, and the guard was killed.

On Wednesday, gunmen shot and killed American aid worker Stephen Vance as he was traveling to work in Peshawar, a vital city for both the government and aid agencies where security has dramatically crumbled.

In the 1980s, Peshawar was an intrigue-filled hub for U.S.-backed guerrillas fighting Soviet troops in neighboring Afghanistan, some of whom went on to form the Taliban or al Qaeda. Osama bin Laden, now perhaps hiding in the adjacent tribal regions, was among them.

Despite that legacy, the city of about 2 million people has been considered relatively safe for foreigners. But residents say organized crime and militancy are on the rise - and increasingly hard to distinguish - and it was possible that the Iranian was kidnapped for ransom.

Growing pockets of the nearby tribal belt have become strongholds for various extremist groups, some of whom are accused of attacking U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan as well as government forces across Pakistan.

The barely governed tribal regions have been the target of a bloody three-month Pakistani army offensive and of U.S. missile attacks from unmanned drones.

Neither the attacks nor the limited aid efforts for the impoverished tribal areas appear to be stemming the violence, which has included suicide attacks as well as shootings and abductions, many of them in and around Peshawar.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Pakistani militants have taken responsibility for some of the recent attacks on foreigners in the region.

Vance worked on a U.S.-funded program to pump $750 million over five years into generating jobs and building infrastructure such as wells and clinics in tribal areas. The program seeks to alleviate extreme poverty in the tribal regions where Islamic extremism has flourished.

Detective Mohammed Farooq Khan said police have found no witnesses and have no strong leads. Local police said they were mounting extra patrols in the upscale University Town district where Vance died and where many of the city's small expatriate community live and work.

The U.S. Embassy in the capital Islamabad said USAID, the American government's development arm, had told Americans in Peshawar to review their security arrangements. In Washington, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said a number of organizations planned to shift operations to Islamabad.

The embassy said its consulate in Peshawar was open Thursday, though staff were told to limit their movements. It urged all Americans in the country to keep a low profile.

In August, Lynne Tracy, the top U.S. diplomat at the consulate, survived a gun attack on her armored vehicle in neighborhood where Vance was killed.

The following month, Afghanistan's ambassador-designate was kidnapped in the city and his driver killed. The Afghan remains missing, as are a Chinese engineer and a Polish surveyor also seized in the northwest.